New planter baskets to hang on lamp posts along San Benito
Street in the city center starting in spring
Hanging plant baskets will soon adorn the gooseneck sidewalk
lamps along San Benito Street in downtown Hollister, bringing a
splash of color to the area starting in the spring.
Coordinated by the Hollister Downtown Association and funded by
the city’s redevelopment agency, the project includes the purchase
and placement of 16 pairs of bracketed baskets that will hold
plants approximately nine feet above street level.
New planter baskets to hang on lamp posts along San Benito Street in the city center starting in spring
Hanging plant baskets will soon adorn the gooseneck sidewalk lamps along San Benito Street in downtown Hollister, bringing a splash of color to the area starting in the spring.
Coordinated by the Hollister Downtown Association and funded by the city’s redevelopment agency, the project includes the purchase and placement of 16 pairs of bracketed baskets that will hold plants approximately nine feet above street level.
The steel baskets cost $3,200 and the RDA also funded the purchase of a watering cart for $1,060.
Marci Huston of M&M Plant Services in Hollister has agreed to donate the plants for the baskets, which will be changed out every three to four months, likely starting in March. Hope Services will provide the year-round maintenance and watering of the plants.
“It’s ending up being very much of a collaborative project,” said Brenda Weatherly, executive director of the HDA. “This is one more way to add color and interest to the downtown corridor and make it a more inviting and appealing place to be.”
The project has been in the discussion stage for a number of years, according to Gordon Machado, a local businessman and member of the downtown association’s design committee.
“Our main concern was the maintenance,” he said. “If you don’t have the maintenance you can go through the effort and all of a sudden the plants will die.”
Securing the volunteer commitment from Hope Services, whose clients are adults with disabilities, to maintain the planters helped move it forward, Machado said.
“We’ve started a community access network program though which we take clients out into the community so that we can give back and volunteer,” said Joy Rice, coordinator of Hope Services. “We want our clients to learn how to access their community easier so that they can go out and be involved just like anyone else.”
A staff member from Hope will accompany the people that do the watering and maintenance of the planter baskets, as many times a week as needed throughout the year, Rice said.
M&M Plant Services, a plant brokerage firm that does not sell to the public, specializes in sourcing plant materials from throughout the world, according to Huston. The company sells to wholesale growers and municipalities throughout the United States and Canada.
Huston said she will work with Altman Plants from Salinas to supply the plants for the downtown planter baskets. Altman is a primary supplier of plants for Target stores.
“The big picture here is to promote gardening,” Huston said, noting that “every little town I’ve been to in the Midwest has these hanging baskets.”
After an expected March planting of flowers such as bacopa, geraniums and verbena, Huston said a July planting could include drought-tolerant plants such as lantana, angelonia and scaevola, followed by an October planting of fall color such as pansies and violas.
“The worst thing that could happen with all the time and expense put into this would be to have the plants die” from lack of care, she said. “Rather than having to depend on the store owners or other community groups, Brenda wanted to make sure that one organization is responsible for getting it done.”
Ultimately, Huston said she hopes the city will promote and participate in the America In Bloom project, which pools resources in an effort to beautify an area through planting and landscaping projects.
“Our goal is to really beautify the whole town,” she said.
